John Jefferson
Meleiah Fisher (Hancock County Jail).
A 31-year-old babysitter in Indiana will not spend any time in prison for abusing and neglecting multiple children in her care, punching, slapping, and kicking the victims when they would act up. Hancock County Circuit Court Judge R. Scott Sirk on Thursday ordered Meleiah Fisher to serve three years on house arrest and an additional 2 1/2 years of probation, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Fisher was initially arrested in 2022 and charged with 10 felonies, including multiple counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury and battery resulting in bodily injury to a person under age 14. However, she reached a deal with prosecutors in which she agreed to plead guilty to five counts of neglect in exchange for the remaining charges being dismissed.
According to a report from the Greenfield Daily Reporter, a detective with the Greenfield Police Department on Sept. 15, 2022, responded to a call from the Indiana Department of Child Services regarding alleged child abuse taking place at Fisher’s home where she babysat for multiple children.
Upon arriving at her address, investigators reportedly spoke to Fisher about a child in her care who suffered multiple injuries, including bruising and abrasions to his forehead and nose. She claimed the child suffered the injuries from a fall several days earlier. She also acknowledged that several other kids had been injured, but explained that they simply “play rough” when at her home.
But when authorities interviewed the children, the victims provided details in stark contrast to Fisher’s explanations. One of the children even provided police with a physical example of the abuse, acting it out for detectives.
“[The victim] stood up and started kicking his legs and throwing his arms, while doing this he was grunting,” the affidavit says, according to a report from Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN. “[The victim] stated that is what Meleiah [Fisher] does when she is mad.”
When another child’s mother asked him how Fisher disciplined kids — including his younger sibling — who acted up when at her house, the boy reportedly responded, “Mom, you get beat up,” including getting “punched” or “slapped” should he “spill something or make a mess.”
When that victim was interviewed by professionals at Zoey’s Place Child Advocacy Center, police said he reiterated that response when asked how Fisher disciplines his brother.
“She beats him up,” police wrote in the arrest report, per the Daily Reporter.
Authorities noted that only a few of the children under Fisher’s care were old enough to speak and provide testimony regarding the abuse.
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